Page 91

“Sophisticated people can have tiny pumpkins.”

“Of course.” He was smiling.

She pulled up a recipe on her phone, even though she just about knew how to make cookies by heart.

Noah glanced at the screen. “You need instructions?”

“Baking is science.”

“You said cookies were a relationship milestone.”

“They are. They can be romantic and precise.”

“That sounds like you.”

She chose to ignore how that came across strangely affectionate. “We need exact measurements.”

“Got it.”

“Can you preheat the oven?” she asked him.

“Yeah, three fifty?”

“How did you know?”

“Every cookie recipe bakes at three fifty.” He clicked preheat on the oven and set the temperature.

“That’s not true.”

“It feels true.”

Claire realized the butter was still cold. “Crap. We forgot to soften the butter.”

“Can’t we just use it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because baking is science. We need softened butter, not cold butter.”

“Right. Romantic science. My bad.”

Claire rolled her eyes, but she was laughing.

They microwaved it for a few seconds. Noah accidentally took it a little too far.

“Noah.”

“What?”

“You melted it.”

“It’s softer.”

“It’ll work.”

“What now?” he asked.